Closed The Antics of the Four-Legged

[Khida]

ooc...and I kept you guys waiting again. Sorry again! Should be more on the ball going forward, though; this month is looking up a bit.

MerevaikaIt occurs to me that I don't know which language Merevaika is speaking here. It doesn't really matter right now, but I'd appreciate if you could indicate some way in future posts, so I can decide if Khida comprehends everything she says or not.

The long-haired girl affirmed that she was well, and Khida nodded, satisfied. The girl went on to ask about her arm. The Kelvic took a moment to examine it more closely, fingers probing at the sore spots. Not good, not bad, she gestured. Sufficient Pavi for more explanation escaped her, however -- signed and spoken alike. Common, then, as they shared more of that language. "It is sore. I think it will be more sore tomorrow. But it's not really damaged."

She probably wouldn't want to fly tomorrow, maybe even not later today -- but she wouldn't have to, either.

The Drykas woman looked on from where she stood with Dainellas, each seeming content with the other's company. There was a subtext to her posture Khida wasn't quite sure of, an aloofness perhaps, although she also seemed interested in the two non-Drykas. Khida shook her head in response to the woman's question, signing a definite no. She followed with I am... but was forced to stop there as her Pavi vocabulary failed her yet again. Khida knew neither sign nor word for Kelvic in that language. "I am Kelvic." She said it as if that answered both questions.

Khida was also married, as told by the Chevas mark on the right of her neck. But it didn't occur to her to hold up that status as a distinction.

Common | Pavi | someone else

[Seirei Dawnwhisper]

Seirei watched the hand sign that the injured woman made carefully. It wasn't one that she was familiar with, so she had to struggle to puzzle out what it meant. Fortunately, it was similar enough to one that she did know that she was able to make an educated guess at the meaning. Seirei tried to commit the sign the woman had made to memory, wanting to learn more of the language of her father's people. When she switched to Common, it was hard for Seirei not to sigh in relief. As much as she wanted to become more fluent in Pavi, she always felt uncertain when trying to converse in the language. She could never be quite certain if she was understanding the other's words or hand signs correctly, or that her own responses were the right ones. "That is good to hear." Seirei said in Common, with a small smile. Her smile faded when the Drykas woman asked if she and the other woman were captives. Seirei hated the reminder of what she was, and of what Lian had done to her. Hated the thought that the child growing inside her had been forced on her against her will. Even if she didn't blame the unborn child for the actions of its father, her feelings towards the child were deeply mixed because of everything that had happened. She also hated knowing that many Drykas saw her as less than human because she was a captive. The other woman told the Drykas that she was something called a Kelvic. Seirei couldn't help but be curious. She had come across several races in her travels with her trade caravan, but Kelvics weren't among the ones she had encountered. Or if they had been, they hadn't said anything about being such, and apparently Kelvics looked enough like humans that one couldn't tell the difference simply by looking at one. Seirei wanted to ask the woman what made a Kelvic different from a human, but she didn't dare. She didn't know the other woman, and such a question could be seen as terribly rude and personal coming from a complete stranger such as herself. And since the woman seemed to belong here in Endrykas, it was likely that she was tied to the Drykas in some way. Since she wasn't a captive, it was entirely likely that she would see the captives in the same way as so many of the Drykas did. If she did, any kind of personal question coming from her was likely to provoke anger. Besides, questioning the other woman while ignoring the Drykas woman's question would be rude. So as much as she wanted to ignore the question, or deny it, Seirei nodded reluctantly. "Yes, I am a captive." Seirei replied quietly, in heavily accented Pavi. As she spoke, she braced herself for the scorn and derision that seemed likely to come. There was a look that appeared in the eyes of those who saw Seirei as an animal to be bred at their whim, or used for their pleasure. Seirei hated that look, but it was one that she was quickly becoming very familiar with. She might even be accused of trying to run away, in which case, she might well be punished for being here. Seirei eyed the two women warily, wondering just how bad things were likely to get for her.

[Merevaika]

The lady that owned the Strider replied to the pregnant one's question about her arm in a short Pavi response. She then continued, Merevaika just about grasping that the language was Common about halfway through the speech.
"-sore tomorrow. But it's not really damaged." Merevaika sighed, annoyed by the Common. She felt it unnatural. Yes, she could speak it, and understand, but every second she had to stop and think.

In reply to her question, the lady signed a no before continuing in Common again. "I am Kelvic." Merevaika was only glad that she knew that word, and didn't have to embarrass herself by asking its meaning. The Kelvic left it as that, but as she shifted slightly, the Chevas mark was prominent. So she was married too. To a Drykas?

"And your husband? Who is he?" she asked in Pavi, holding it as a sign of slight superiority. She turned to the other woman, whose smile had faded at the question on captives. She nodded reluctantly, forcing out the answer in quiet Pavi. The woman braced herself for the response, but Merevaika did little but nod.

The Drykas straightened a little, feeling the most superior in the little group. Neither of the other two were Drykas, so in Merevaika's eyes, she was the best. But to Merevaika that didn't mean that the others were bad, just not as good.

She felt herself approaching the other two with a little curiousity. She paused before asking a question, full of interest and kindness.
"What is your names?" the Drykas struggled in Common, trying to remember the vocabulary, "I am Merevaika. And the horse Eryunt. Your horse?"

[Khida]

Khida noticed the long-haired girl seemed dismayed by the question of captives; no great surprise, then, when she nodded and confirmed herself as such. The Kelvic found the dismay somewhat curious, and her stiff anticipation afterwards, but not the status; that, she couldn't care less about.

The Drykas woman, though, chose that moment to ask about Khida's husband, a topic automatically more important than whatever caused the girl discomfort. Khida touched her fingers to the mark, reminded of its presence by the question. "He is my..." She hit the wall of lacking a Pavi word for bondmate. Nothing even close quite came to mind. "We are bonded." Names, the woman went on to request. Names, always with the names. Someday, she'd remember to supply them and not have to be asked all the time. ...Or not.

"He is Shahar. I am Khida," she supplied, sketching greeting and holding out a hand towards Eryunt in invitation for the Strider to sniff, if he so desired. Not that the horse hadn't already gotten her scent -- but that was part of introductions, with horses, so far as she knew. "She is Dainellas," the Kelvic finished, nodding towards the Strider mare.

Treating her name as an invitation, the mare stepped forward, whuffling at Khida's hair. Khida reached up with her good arm to scratch at Dainellas' coat. Ride, she sketched around the affectionate interaction, know not, know more.

Common | Pavi | someone else

[Seirei Dawnwhisper]

Seirei resisted the urge to sigh in relief when her admitted status as a captive didn't seem to matter to the other two women. One didn't react in any way at all as far as Seirei could see, and the other merely nodded in acknowledgement. She did straighten her posture after hearing Seirei's words, but that didn't necessarily have anything to do with her being a captive. So Seirei allowed herself to relax a little. She tried to follow the discussion about husbands with limited success. Since she had been a child when her father had taught her what she knew of the language, words relating to marriage, and husbands were less focused on than words that would be important to a child. As a result, she could understand enough to know that the two women were talking about one or more husband, but Seirei couldn't really understand what was being said about them. Maybe I should ask Lian if he's willing to teach me some more pavi. she mused. He didn't seem to mind when I asked him if he would teach me how to ride, so maybe he won't mind if I ask him about this, too. If need be, I could trade answers to more questions for the lessons. Seirei started paying attention to the conversation again just in time to hear one of the women introduce herself in Common. Her name was Merevaika, and her horse...or was it a strider? In either case, the creature's name was Eryunt. The other woman's name was Khida. She offered another name as well. Shahar. It sounded like a man's name...possibly the name of her husband? And her strider's name was Dainellas. "My name is Seirei." she offered softly in Common when it was her turn. Like Khida, Seirei made a hand gesture of greeting. Seirei didn't know why Khida offered her hand to Eryunt, but she figured it was probably a custom here in Endrykas. So she copied the gesture, and offered her own hand first to Eryunt, and then to Dainellas. After withdrawing her hand, she glanced at the two women uncertainly. "May I ask what this custom means?" she asked hesitantly in Common. Seirei watched as Khida's strider, Dainellas walked up to her, and seemed to blow at the woman's hair. When Khida gave the mare a good scratch, she made some gestures that confused Seirei. She recognized the gesture for "ride." It was one of the first she had learned, and seeing how important striders and horses were to the Drykas, Seirei could understand why. The other gestures suggested that she didn't know something...and that she did know something at the same time. The "something" was likely riding, since the gestures were made with the gesture for "ride." But...Seirei was utter lost on what the signs meant together. "You...don't know how to ride...but you do?" Seirei asked Khida in confusion, as she tried to figure out what the other woman had meant.

[Merevaika]

The Kelvic struggled to think of a word to answer Merevaika's question, touching the Chevas mark lightly. "We are bonded," she finally said, "He is Shahar. I am Khida. She is Dainellas." She first meant her husband, then herself, then the horse. She made a sign of greeting to Merevaika's own strider, reaching her hand up to let him sniff her before her own horse came over at the sound of her name, snorting at her hair.

The captive, who had appeared to have zoned out a little during the conversation on Khida's husband, answered the question softly. Her name was Seirei, and she spoke in Common. Merevaika didn't know if this frustrated her or not. It was harder to understand, but she needed the practise. Seirei copied the other woman's action, making the gesture for greeting and offering her hand to both horses. "May I ask what this custom means?" she asked, a little uncertain on why she was doing it.

Merevaika herself wasn't certain on why they did the custom. "You greet the horses, and let them smell. So they recognise your scent. They use it diffferently than we do. They can smell danger, and fear. Or at least they appear to. I do not know more," Merevaika smiled, struggling a little with the Common, "It is just something always done." She smiled at her response. It sounded right, at least.

Khida then made a series of signs, but Merevaika did not understand her, and it appeared that Seirei didn't either. The Kelvic made the sign for Ride before following with Know not, know more. Seirei took a guess as to the meaning, while Merevaika did not voice her thoughts on its meaning. Perhaps she meant it as a question? Maybe she wished to know more? Perhaps that was what she had been trying to do?

Elaborate the Drykas quickly gestured, hoping that she would clarify what she had signed.

[Khida]

The long-haired girl offered her name, and offered her hand to the horses as Khida had. She then proceeded to ask why, at which query the Kelvic simply tipped her head, somewhat surprised. Fortunately, the Drykas woman chimed in with an answer, more of one than Khida might have -- though she, too, ended with a lack of comprehension. It was simply something she did.

Khida breathed out a soft huff. "Beasts use scent," she supplied, resorting to Common from the outset because there was simply no way she could stretch her Pavi to cover the explanation. "You've seen two dogs meet. They always smell each other. They smell you. Horses are less obvious about it, but they smell those around them too. It is part of how they know you. Like names and hair and clothes colors for humans," she concluded. At the last, Khida shrugged; she didn't really have a compelling reason either, when it came down to it. Just a rationalization born out of her own inclinations and the things she'd been told. It's always seemed polite to me. And if Striders are like humans, they like polite."

It was just as well she had stuck to Common for the swathe of words, because they went on to ask what her earlier signs had meant. Trying to explain in Pavi really would have made it a great muddle. Khida grimaced, then shook her hands dismissively: not important. More than anything, she had seen it as protesting the claiming of Dainellas as hers -- she was a teaching horse, but most of all she was her own, or so the Kelvic believed -- but their relationships took more words to explain, more than she thought worth spending on the matter. What the others thought in that regard didn't seem important; Khida really couldn't see that it made a difference either way.

I go, she signed, and then I ride in case extra clarity was needed. But as Khida stepped around to Dainellas' flank, the mare setting her feet in expectation, the strength of her resolve flickered. Not faltered, not so far as that, but... her arm hurt, seemingly more than before, and her hip kinda hurt, and the mare's back was just awfully high. Maybe she would just walk back instead.

Common | Pavi | someone else

[Seirei Dawnwhisper]

When Seirei had asked about the "custom" of greeting horses and striders, she half expected to be told "because we do." Instead, the two women made an honest attempt to answer her question, and between the two of them, the resulting answer made sense. Merevaika told her that the horse or strider needed to be able to smell a person in order to recognize their scent. So it was probably like introducing yourself to them. People remembered you by name and face. Horses and striders, it seemed, remembered you by scent. Seirei committed that fact to memory. Since horses and striders were so important to the Drykas, it would be a good idea to learn how to act around them properly so she wouldn't accidentaly offend someone by upsetting their strider. Seirei wasn't certain what the Drykas woman meant when she said that horses could smell danger or fear. No Drykas would ever threaten a horse, or strider. Even Seirei knew that much. So why would their ability to smell danger be important to the custom of letting a horse or strider smell your hand? Unless, the other woman meant that they could tell what kind of mood a human was in by their scent? If they could smell fear, maybe they could smell sorrow, anger, and happiness, too? Khida's response confirmed Seirei's guess that horses and striders remembered people and other animals by scent the same way people remembered names and faces. The other woman also said it was polite, and Seirei nodded thoughtfully. Her father had told her that striders weren't like normal horses. They were smarter...like people, really. And if that was true, it only made sense to treat them as such. So being polite to a strider would be just as important as being polite to a person. And for much the same reasons. Seirei had noticed that the Drykas treated their horses much better than many others did. Almost as if they were little brothers and sisters rather than mere animals. So being polite to horses didn't seem like much of a stretch to her. Khida told them that she was going to leave. As Seirei watched, though, she seemed to hesitate before mounting her horse. Dainellas, Seirei reminded herself. Perhaps the woman was hurt more than she wanted to admit? "If your arm still hurts later today, maybe you should have it looked at. One of my friends is a healer. Her name is Waisana. She might be able to help you. Or if not, she probably knows someone who can." Seirei said softly, in Common. She hoped that Khida wouldn't take offense at her suggestion. "I should probably get going, too." she added a few ticks later, still in Common.

[Merevaika]

Khida added to her explanation, mentioning that she found it polite. Merevaika agreed to herself, taking that thought and scratching her horse lightly to show that she wasn't ignoring his presence. He snorted at her back, reminding her that he wasn't to be forgotten.

Khida then went on to dismiss what she had said about riding. It bugged Merevaika, but she let the curiousity die down as the kelvic announced her departure. She made around the horse in a motion to mount her, but faltered just before she did.

Seirei offered the name of a healer, Waisana. To Merevaika, the name meant nothing, and without a face to it, Merevaika could not claim that she had ever met the healer, let alone seen her, but she offered a word of encouragement.

"Better to go and be told that nothing wrong than not and it be very wrong," she said, the words coming out wrong. But at the worst the kelvic wouldn't understand, or take offence. Merevaika wouldn't care about either, but instead felt a slight feeling of goodness, for caring enough about someone to mention something like this, despite it being an echo of another. Usually she didn't care about others, not at all.

Seirei also said that she should be going, and for a few ticks they stood awkwardly before Merevaika spoke again. "I too, must go. She waited a second before turning round to Eryunt. Hoisting herself up onto the yvas, she looked down at her two aquantances, giving them a sign of goodbye Till they met again.

[Khida]

The long-haired girl suggested she visit a healer. Khida paused and glanced towards her; towards the woman as well, when she chimed in with agreement. It was a good course to suggest. Yes, she signed, and good, because that was as much Pavi as she had to express her thoughts on the matter. But first, she would take Dainellas home.

And for that... she would walk. Because that, too, struck her as sensible. She had no need to stress her arm further by leaping up onto the horse, so she wouldn't. Need might yet come.

A glance around revealed no sign of Tuka, but the cat had most likely already returned to the camp looking for food or a brother to play with.

The older woman signed goodbye and mounted her own horse, retreating from the group. Khida patted Dainellas on the shoulder and signed go to inform the mare that no, she actually would not be riding. The Strider flicked an ear, the significance of that entirely ambiguous to the Kelvic, and didn't actually start moving until she did, keeping an unhurried pace at her side.

Khida wondered, as they went, what her bondmate would think of this day's little adventure...

Common | Pavi | someone else